Doomsday Pillars

The human body was full of mysteries. Scientists in modern times still hadn't answered everything about the secrets of the human body.

Everyone had fingerprints that were different, even identical twins had different fingerprints. It is the diversity of bodies where no one was the same. Some people had dominant hands such as the right and or the left. Some were ambidextrous but still preferred one hand better than the other. People were also born with different talents, such as being able to hear distinct sounds and play musical instruments well but some others were born without musical talent even though their parents were music maestros. There were people who had excellent motoric skills, thus they were extremely skilled in sports and some were able to paint an art spectacularly.

What about blood type?

There were eight main blood groups, but many people didn't know that in these eight blood types, there existed different variations not mentioned often! 

Type A blood, according to research, was considered the most ancient. Type B and Type O developed later due to mutations in the genetic code as humans proliferated and crossed continents.

Scientists in modern times were able to research the ancestry of a human-based on DNA. But that result could only be found in 2% of the total DNA collected. Then what else could they find in the remaining 98%?

Some scientists are still researching the function of DNA as a whole. But in the end, they still did not find precise, accurate, and scientific information to answer everything.

Could the Doomsday Pillar has the answer to this mystery?

Four messages popped into Christina's mind as she stood on top of that glowing circle.

[Check status]

[Skill Library]

[Practice]

[Realm enhancement]

"Okay... Check Status!"

A glowing inscription appeared in front of her.

[Christina]

[Female - 34 years]

[Mortal Realm Level 30 - Peak Stage]

[You have reached the peak stage of the mortal realm. You are eligible for a realm upgrade.]

[Upgrade to Earth Realm?]

"Earth Realm Enhancement? What's that?" Christina was excited to see the message in front of her and agreed immediately but the next message made her squint her eyes.

[10 spirit stones required]

"..."

She couldn't help but think this Doomsday Pillar was like a cash grab mobile app. Everything they offered seemed to have a cost upfront. Luckily though, only 10 spirit stones were required. After asking Jennie for the spirit stones, Christina held out the spirit stones to the cube and it disappeared.

[Mortal realm upgrade to earth realm processing]

A bright circle light appeared from Christina's feet, making her float as a pressure seemed to have covered her body. Then, Christina felt her skin as if being pricked with hundreds of tiny needles touched her skin, making her whole body shake.

It wasn't painful though for it was like the small bits of electricity one would feel when being in an acupuncture clinic. Christina could feel energy rushing through her entire body. If she had been familiar with traditional Chinese medicine, then Christina would understand that her entire meridian circulation network was being stimulated.

Just like how blood and nerves had its own networks, energy also had its own in the form of meridians. 

Meridians were located in the body with varying in location depending on the path of the energy circulated. Some meridians existed through the bones, some were between the muscles, and because of their unreal form, some penetrated or enveloped organs. 

Christina could tell the energy was targeting specific spots in her body; she didn't know those were her 12 main meridians. They felt warm but at the same time, she could tell something was exiting her body. Those spots were like a dripping tap opened wide.

The feeling of electricity coursed through every part of her body down to every joint and strand of hair. It was an extraordinary feeling. 

After the process had ended, Christina closed her eyes and also felt the fire energy in gut gathering and hardening.

[Realm upgrade successful]

[Status update]

[Christina]

[Female - 34 years]

[Earth realm level 1 - initial stage]

[Spirit affinity found - Fire - initial stage]

[Spirit Talent - level A]

Maxine, Corrie, Jennie, and the other were looking at Christina wanting to know what had just happened to her. Christina gave a smile and said, "Try it out for yourselves."

Jennie stepped forward, and not long after, Maxine and Corrie followed.

[Jennie]

[Female - 38 years]

[Earth realm level 1 - initial stage]

[Spirit affinity found - Psychic - initial stage]

[Spirit Talent - level B]

[Corrie]

[Female - 24 years]

[Earth realm level 1 - initial stage]

[Spirit of affinity found - Wind - initial stage]

[Spirit Talent - level B]

[Maxine]

[Female - 27 years]

[Earth realm level 1 - initial stage]

[Spirit of affinity found - Ground - initial stage]

[Spirit Talent - level B]

The three were surprised to have experienced the upgrade. They asked the rest of the Firebirds members to do the same. The result was, from the 30 firebirds members, 5 people had talent spirit level C, 10 had talent spirit D and the rest got the message.

[No Spirit talent found]

Christina and her sisters wanted to know more about what the effect of spiritual talents had on their bodies, but they seemed to have noticed those who do have it, were the members who were contributing the most in their battles. The thing they could tell for sure though was that they could fill a new sense of energy within them. They wanted to try it against the zombies outside. However, there were still facilities from the Doomsday Pillar that hadn't been inspected yet. 

Christina returned to examine the cube.

[Skill Library]

[Battle arts - empty handed]

[Battle arts - weapons]

[Inner power manual]

Her eyes widened seeing these options. Then it made sense to her, the store sold items while this place sold knowledge. She scrolled through the list of categories and selected the knowledge she was most interested in. 

[Sword art]

She excitedly read the list and once again there were also many variations.

[Short sword] [Long sword] [Broad sword] [single edge sword]

Christina chooses one of them.

[Long Sword Art - basic]

[20 spirit stone]

Since it didn't require a lot of spirit stones, Christina immediately bought them.

The technique she had chosen was a long sword art, a type of sword commonly used in Chinese martial arts. Although the description had said this was a basic art manual, it contained a lot more information than she had expected. She looked into her newfound knowledge and compared it to those lessons she had taken, the private sword dance lessons, and its teachings, and she was now able to answer many basic movements she had not understood before. The various parry movements, sweeping movements, aerial attack movements, and many more.

200+ basic variations in using the long sword entered her mind like a stamp engraved in her memory. She felt she became an expert in using long sword but still she knew that theory and practice were two different things. To truly master this knowledge, she needed to use and train these.

She then looked to the other option that caught her eye [Inner power manual]. In contrast to bare-handed martial arts and weapons that have a wide variety of choices, internal power manuals only gave her one option.

[Fire spirit manual - initial stage]

[100 spirit stones]

It seemed Christina had no choice but to buy it. Since only a dozen of them had spiritual talent, only they received the option to have the manual. After she had bought it, they didn't have much spirit stones left to buy other things. But Christina believed strengthening oneself from the inside was more important than external weapons or equipment.

When the manual entered Christina's mind, a new wave of knowledge entered her mind forcing her to sit. An enlightenment period occurred in her head and it accessed the energy stored in her body. Without realizing it, she had already spent an hour sitting and if Jennie hadn't called her repeatedly, maybe she would have been stuck transfixed about the manual for the whole day.

"Yes, Jennie? Sorry, I didn't notice that time had passed quickly. What about you? Did you also get something from the manual?"

"Honestly, It's very hard for me. I don't really know where to start. Maybe I'm not smart enough." Jennie continued, "Sister, we've been here for 2 days while Inspector Tang's group has been a whole week. The outside may still be rioting, I think I should see what's the situation outside. What do you think?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I will go too. Let's go."

Jennie shook her and pointed to Corrie and Maxine who were also in a transfixed state.

"I suggest you continue what you were doing, understand the manual first. I have a feeling it will greatly help us once you come out. I will invite the other members out though as well as Inspector Tang and we'll go return if there's something urgent."

Christina nodded and sat. She closed her eyes and imagined the manual in her head. Not long after, she was lost in thought again and without realizing it, several hours had passed and even a few nights had passed.